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The Times Advocate, 2008-11-05, Page 13Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Times -Advocate 13 Small-town roots contribute to Brooks' success By Ben Forrest TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF To be an accountant requires skill with numbers, and Doug Brooks admits he did OK with those as a kid. As a student I was decent in most of my studies, he said last week. Whether it was English, Math or whatever, I was a pretty good student. But for Brooks, who grew up in Exeter, becoming an accountant was not a plateau it was a step- ping stone that led to leadership roles at Coca-Cola, the CBC, the National Hockey League (NHL) and eventually Certified General Accountants (CGA) On- tario, where he now serves as CEO. In a sense, Brooks has come full circle taught him the importance of re- lationships with clients and the importance of becoming a CGA. Brooks worked toward his CGA designation, then spent one-year at Canada Trust before joining Coca-Cola as the controller of the company plant in London. I actually thought at that time, This is it for me. This is great. I m 25, 26 years old and here I am a plant controller at Coke, he said. He had recently started a fam- ily and had a boss at Coke who encouraged him to balance fam- ily with work. Back in 88 that wasn t talked a lot about like it is today, but Don was very Brooks believes firmly that growing up in Exeter provided much that has served him well in the corporate world. with his cur- rent post, his job being to grow the organization in which his ca- reer roots are anchored. He sees it as a chance to give back and to travel less. For Brooks, the story began with numbers and with accounting. It began in Exeter, and he has not forgotten this. It was as a Grade 13 student at South Huron District High School that Brooks decided to go into accounting. He looked to local man Joe Darling as a mentor and early employer. My career ultimately took me in a very different place, he said. I ended up getting into sales and marketing roles, more leadership roles, kind of getting away from traditional account- ing, but it was a great place to start. Brooks worked for Darling right out of high school, and considers Darling a mentor who G.I.C. 4 's\ 95% Awl" Gaiser ""k KneaIns. Brokerlnc.le EXETER - 519-235-2420 GRAND BEND - 519-238-8484 CLINTON - 519-482-3401 Dr. J. Jadd and Dr. K. Fatum 469 William St. S. FLU SHOT CLINIC WED., NOV. 12 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Patients of Dr. Fatum and Dr. Jadd ALL PATIENTS OVER 6 MONTHS OF AGE ARE ELIGIBLE FREE OF CHARGE (No appointment necessary) focussed on his family, he said. Brooks spent 13 years in vari- ous positions at Coke before moving to the CBC, where he headed up the corporation s sales division for English televi- sion. Six months later he was general manager of sales and marketing, overseeing 220 employees from across Canada. According to the CGA Ontario publication Statements, Brooks posted record advertising rev- enue for the Athens Olympics in 2004, and was involved with the CBC s successful Hockeyville TV concept. The concept worked, he be- lieves, because it connected with the role of hockey in small towns like Exeter. At the grassroots level in Canada and in communities like Exeter, it s kind of the focus of the community and it touches so many people s lives, he said. I think what we saw was the opportunity to connect with that passion about hockey ... and I think that made a very special connection with small-town Canada, which is where I come from. Before Hockeyville hit the air, however, Brooks had moved to the NHL, something he admits was a dream come true. My two oldest kids are both boys, and they were in high school at the time, so they were pretty excited to be able to tell people that s where their dad Exeter accountant -turned CEO Doug Brooks (Photo/submitted) worked, he said. I remember one of the first things I got to do was the Stan- ley Cup Finals, and they were in Edmonton that year. I remem- ber sitting in the stands when they were singing the national anthems and just how loud and raucous the place was and how exciting. I thought, There s no better place to be right now than right here. It was so cool. CGA Ontario approached him about transitioning into a differ- ent role, however, and though it was a tough decision, Brooks saw it as a chance to use his knowl- edge and experience to give back to the organization. He s been on the job roughly a year now, and says things have been going well. We continue to grow, he said. We ve been adding staff to the organization to grow our capa- bilities. A record number of new members as well, so it s actually been going very well. I m really appreciating getting out there and meeting members across the province. Brooks believes firmly that growing up in Exeter provided much that has served him well in the corporate world. You learn family values, but you also learn the value of hard work and determination wheth- er it s in your career or your life generally, he said. I think people that grow up in those small communities across Canada have those same sorts of values, and I really think that helped me immensely, having that at the starting point. Men's Charity Breakfast slated for Nov 15 CENTRALIA As we age it seems that we miss what we did and things that happened to us in our youth. Some guys buy a car or a tractor like the one they grew up with and restore it to good running condition to remind them of the good old days. Murray Shier, near Kirkton, didn t have to find a tractor like the one he grew up with; he already had it, but it hadn t been used much for many years. An important question needed to be answered should he ship it out for scrap or move it into the workshop for restoration? The move to the workshop took place in 2005, and the 1959 Allis Chalmers Series D17 started a new chapter in its life history. The tractor was bought from Bert Borland in Centralia in 1967, complete with a rebuilt engine under warranty. Back home on the Shier farm, problems with the engine started to appear, and in a short time the engine failed and the warranty repair was ap- proved. Getting the now -dead tractor from Kirkton to Centralia was no problem. The family s Buick car was called upon to do the pulling. With dad Stuart driving the car and Murray steering the tractor at the end of a long chain, off they went back to the dealer. There were times during the trip when Stuart in the car forgot that he was pulling a tractor and speeds well beyond those of a tractor often happened, and Murray had challenges keeping the tractor from weaving at corners. At stop roads the tractor with two -wheel brakes had trouble stopping behind a car with four-wheel brakes. Contact between tractor and the car s rear bumper were common occurrences. The engine was rebuilt again, and the D17 provided the power needs on three farms. At times, being the only tractor available, the work that needed to be done was beyond that which a 55 horsepower tractor could reasonably provide. So in 1972 a bigger Allis Chalmers model 200 was bought. This 100 horsepower trac- tor now comfortably provided all the power needed, and the D17 was used sporadically. The restoration begun in 2005 was undertaken as spare -time work. Since the tractor had been maintained, the transmission and final drive system was still in good condition. Front-end work was needed and the tie rod ends were replaced with new ones. New gauges were installed, as well as new wiring. Over the years, the fenders had taken a beating from corrosion and from being hit from behind by implements, and they needed replacing. The toolbox, which is fender mounted, was also re- placed. New rims and tires completed the rebuilding job. A new paint job brought the tractor back to a like -new appear- ance. The 1959 Allis Chalmers D17 made its debut as a restored tractor at the 2008 Kirkton Fall Fair. Even the rain failed to stop it. Murray would like to give thanks to Keith and Larry Selves for their information on the history of this model of tractor, and thanks to Sylvester Grimminck for help with wiring and other technical support. Completing this project was important to Murray as it brings back many memories of days long ago. The We Care Men s Charity Breakfast will be held at the Mal- ibu Restaurant near Centralia Nov. 15 at 8:30 a.m. Our discussion after breakfast is on the Biblical concept of Heaven and the other H word. The topic, led by Peter Black, is lively and informative. For more information, contact George Burgin at 519-229-8833 or Dave Hern at 519-229-6339. article submitted by George Burgin BMO Bank of Montreal lu ceQebUttoli, 50 9e4M, o �,ehvi,ce ZSth we awi,�e cu,itoineM, 6 �o ceQevaz cvi,tk anniversary gall, love cave taheekt ooh au %,o iw uh, o ("WA, 25 1, it h h.LveM4h9 NA, C Cil, IS. Join us Fri., Nov. 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to congratulate these ladies at the EXETER Branch (400 Main St. Exeter) with cake and refreshments You're invited to , Jillian's Christmas Open Mouse Mitchell, ON ji1[ians.ca